


Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy

by youbeyou



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Time period, Alternate Universe - Military, Boys Kissing, Getting Together, Harry worries about people finding out he's gay, Hickeys, Love Confessions, Lovebites, M/M, Military Homophobia, Period Typical Attitudes, Period-Typical Homophobia, Secret Crush, We'll say 70's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 07:12:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11618580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youbeyou/pseuds/youbeyou
Summary: A lot of the other guys in Harry’s company are returning with marks from their significant others, hickeys that they actually seem content to show off, despite the ribbing from the other men.Harry can feel himself becoming a little more downhearted with each one he sees. He just wishes he had someone too, that he was coming back from being all loved up at home with his boyfriend or husband, that he didn’t have to pretend it was a girl he was fantasizing about when someone called him out on it.He’s lying quietly in his bunk, writing out all the things he wants but can’t tell anyone else about and pretending it’s a letter home while the other boys play cards again. When Louis suddenly bounces down next to him and asks what he’s up to, Harry swiftly covers his journal with his pillow, an urgent panic shooting through his veins. He really hopes Louis didn’t see his name on those pages.





	Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a play on lyrics from Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix because I am a ridiculous human being.
> 
> This fic was written as part of an ongoing challenge. We each select random numbers and are given a specific emotion from the book 1000 Feelings For Which There Are No Names. To read the other fics written in this challenge, click [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/ShortFic_Challenge_For_Which_There_Is_No_Name/works), or you can find the masterpost on tumblr [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/159679804243/1000-feelings-for-which-there-are-no-names-prompt).

  1. Envy of other people’s hickeys.



 

Harry walks back into his barracks slowly, duffle slung over his shoulder. It’s almost a relief to be back here. Going home on furlough had been rougher than he’d expected, his mother’s tear stained cheeks when he’d had to leave again, his sister’s pitying stares weighing him down. He’s going back to war soon and they had all known it. It had definitely put a damper on his visit.

The rowdy chatter of the rest of Harry’s company fills his ears and makes Harry smile as everyone settles back in after a good bit of time away. These are a good bunch of guys. At the very least, Harry is happy he’s gotten to know them. He doesn’t think he’ll mind having these guys at his back when they enter the field of battle.

“Hey, Haz!” Niall Horan calls in his cheerful Irish accent, waving from where he’s sitting on his bunk playing cards with a few other guys.

“Niall,” Harry nods in greeting as he walks past, directing a smile toward the Irish lad. “Have a good trip home?”

“Yeah,” Niall grins. “Got to see my nephew. He’s getting so big.”

Harry’s smile grows, but then it always does at the mention of children. He loves children.

“C’mon, Payno. Tell us,” Harry hears as he continues on, past a group of guys that are circling Liam Payne, teasing him good naturedly about something.

“Shut up,” Payne says, pushing Samuels by the shoulder playfully with one hand while he tries to hide his neck with the other. “I’m not telling you anything.”

“Harry!” Louis Tomlinson’s voice breaks through all the noise and immediately pulls Harry’s attention to him. “Glad to have you back.” Louis flings his arms around Harry’s neck the second Harry’s duffle hits his bunk.

“You too, Louis,” Harry laughs, relishing the hug, his own arms tight around his best friend’s waist as he ignores the skip in his heart and the butterflies in his belly.

Harry releases Louis, taking a deliberate step back and looking around to see if anyone has noticed that he held onto Louis for maybe a beat too long, fearing his crush on his best friend is as obvious to everyone else as it feels to him. To his relief, no one seems to be staring and Louis hasn’t seemed to notice either.

“What’s going on with Liam?” Harry asks, determined to keep the attention off of himself while he waits for the heat he can feel in his cheeks to cool down.

“Oh!” Louis’ eyes light up at the mention of their fellow soldier and he leans into Harry’s side to inform him that “apparently, Payno’s girl back home is a vampire. She’s left his neck all marked up. The guys will be giving him shit for that for weeks.”

“You say that like you won’t be one of them,” Harry says with a grin, eying Liam’s neck where the soldier is still trying to cover it up. Harry can just make out the edge of a purple bruise. He swallows down his jealousy at the sight of that mark even as he feels his grin fading. Liam has a girl back home that he can show pictures of to his friends, can be ribbed for the marks she left on his skin. Harry will never have that, simply because it will never be a girl that he loves.

“I definitely will,” Louis’ voice breaks into his thoughts and Harry can’t help smiling again. Louis is always the best at making him smile.

 

*

 

A lot of the other guys in Harry’s company are returning with marks from their significant others, hickeys that they actually seem content to show off, despite the ribbing from the other men.

Harry can feel himself becoming a little more downhearted with each one he sees. He just wishes he had someone too, that he was coming back from being all loved up at home with his boyfriend or husband, that he didn’t have to pretend it was a girl he was fantasizing about when someone called him out on it.

He’s lying quietly in his bunk, writing out all the things he wants but can’t tell anyone else about and pretending it’s a letter home while the other boys play cards again. When Louis suddenly bounces down next to him and asks what he’s up to, Harry swiftly covers his journal with his pillow, an urgent panic shooting through his veins. He really hopes Louis didn’t see his name on those pages.

“Just writing a letter,” Harry answers him, trying to sound nonchalant about it.

Louis’ eyes narrow, flicking from Harry’s face to the offending pillow. “A letter to who?”

Harry sighs and rolls his eyes. “It’s just a letter to send back home. It’s not a big deal, Louis.”

“Then why are you hiding it?”

“Because it’s nobody else’s business?” Harry answers, his frustration at the whole situation getting the better of him.

It’s immediately evident that this was the wrong thing to say when Louis’ shoulders tense up and he huffs out an irritated breath. “Fine, Harold,” Louis says brusquely, standing from Harry’s bunk. “Have your secrets. Was just gonna ask you if you wanted to join the card game but I can see you’re obviously busy.”

Harry feels terrible as he watches Louis walk away. He hadn’t meant to hurt Louis’ feelings. He sighs deeply and slowly turns back to his journal, he’ll make it up to Louis later.

About five minutes later, all thoughts of apology vanish when his journal is unceremoniously ripped from his hands. “Louis, don’t!” He pleads as Louis quickly backs away, laughing.

“Relax, Styles,” Louis says in an easy tone, like this is just another one of his harmless pranks. “I just wanna see who you’re writing to that you need to be all secretive about.”

Harry stands from his bunk, ready to give chase. He can feel the eyes of the other guys on his back, watching curiously as Harry stands there, waiting for Louis to see what he’s been hiding for all this time. “You don’t want to read that.”

He can _see_ the moment Louis recognizes his name on the page.

“You’re writing about me, Haz?” Louis asks, delight in his tone and Harry knows he hasn’t yet read exactly _what_ Harry’s been writing about him.

“ _Please, Louis_ ,” Harry tries one last time, already knowing that it’s too late when he feels his heart plummet while he watches Louis’ smile dwindle little by little as he reads. When Louis’ head snaps up to look at Harry with uncertainty in his eyes, Harry knows that it’s all over. Louis will never speak to him again. Maybe none of his friends will if Louis tells them.  “I’m sorry,” Harry tells him, feeling tears prickling in his eyes as he just stands there with his head hung in shame. What else is there to do now?

He doesn’t know if a minute passes or an hour, but then there’s a hand on his shoulder and his journal is being pressed back into his hands.

“ _I’m_ sorry, Harry,” Louis’ soft voice filters through Harry’s fog of embarrassment. “I should have respected your privacy.”

Harry raises his head slowly, unclear about what’s going on. Is Louis… _comforting_ him?

Louis smiles when their eyes meet, a little, apologetic thing but it’s infinitely better than the disgust Harry had feared.

“Thank you,” Harry says quietly, unable to raise his voice higher than a whisper.

Harry doesn’t have the slightest clue what’s going through Louis’ head but he accepts the journal, locking it away and then lying down on his bunk as Louis draws everyone else’s attention back to the card game like nothing ever happened. He steals glances every now and again and sometimes he catches Louis glancing back, but there’s never anything but fondness in Louis’ gaze when Harry catches him so Harry can definitely live with that.

 

*

 

Several days later, Harry wonders if everything that happened with his journal was just a fever dream or something. Louis doesn’t seem to have told anyone Harry’s darkest secret and he isn’t behaving any differently toward him. At least, not in a negative way. Harry has noticed that Louis hangs a little closer to him, always right next to Harry lately whether they’re hanging out in the barracks or doing PT.   It’s kind of nice but Harry refuses to read anything into it.

Harry wakes up in the middle of the night, the persistent urge to wee making him sleepily drag himself from his bunk to the loo. He’s just finished up and is tucking himself back into his pants when he hears the door open and Louis steps in behind him.

“Oh, thank god,” Louis says, leaning back against the door. “Never realized how difficult it is to get someone alone around here until I actually needed to.”

Harry blinks, wondering if he should be worried that the only person who knows his secret wants to get him alone. He can’t find it in him to believe that Louis would want to hurt him though, so he brushes the thought away and steps closer to his friend. “What is it, Lou?” He asks, concerned that whatever Louis needs to tell him, he feels he needs to do in private. “You could’ve told me if you needed to talk. I would’ve found the time for you.”

Louis whines in his throat, a small plaintive sound that confuses Harry until Louis speaks. “I’d rather kiss you if you’re up for it.”

“What?” Harry asks dumbly.

Louis sighs, running a nervous hand through his hair. “Ever since I stole your journal and read about your feelings for me it’s all I can think about,” he says, an air of desperation to him. “Since before then, really, but it’s gotten worse now that I know it’s not just me having these feelings.”

“You- You have feelings for me?” Harry asks tentatively and watches dimly as Louis takes his hand and steps closer, bringing his free hand up cup Harry’s cheek.

Louis nods without speaking, his eyes on Harry’s lips, face inching closer. “ _Please_ tell me I can kiss you,” he whispers.

“You can kiss me,” Harry says, staring at Louis in a daze of euphoria. His heart is racing in his chest and knees feel a little weak as Louis sighs against his lips, smiling in relief before finally closing the distance and pressing their lips together.

Louis’ mouth feels wonderful on his, opening a bit so that they slot together perfectly. Harry’s hands both end up on Louis’ waist, pulling him close as Louis’ fingers dig into Harry’s hair. Louis’ tongue flicks out at Harry’s bottom lip, giving him the incentive to open further, allowing Louis to deepen the kiss as he pushes Harry back against the wall. His mouth disengages from Harry’s to trail kisses down Harry’s throat.

“Saw you staring at Liam when we got back,” Louis tells him, breathlessly as he presses kissed into Harry’s delicate skin. “Was crazy jealous until I figured out why.”

Harry gasps as Louis suddenly sucks on his neck right at the corner of his jaw. He doesn’t want to stop it but he kind of has to. “Lou, you can’t mark me up _now_. I didn’t have any marks yesterday, they’ll know that someone here did it.”

Louis pulls away with a disappointed sigh, running his hands over Harry’s shoulders. He stares at Harry’s shirt, a smirk growing on his face. “I’ll just have to do it where no one will see,” he says, pulling up Harry’s shirt and bending down to suck a mark onto Harry’s chest.  He thumbs at it when he’s done and then, apparently, decides that one mark simply isn’t enough. So he sucks on onto Harry’s tummy, his hip, and then, yanking down Harry’s pants, Louis falls to his knees… and sucks one into Harry’s inner thigh.

“Oh god, Louis,” Harry moans as quietly as he can manage. He ignores the stirring of arousal and pulls Louis up, tugging up his pants once Louis is standing.

Louis is smiling, looking all kinds of smug. “Are you happy now, Harry? You don’t have to be jealous of Liam’s marks anymore.”

Harry chuckles ruefully. “Shut up, Louis.”

“What? You wanted marks,” Louis tells him, sidling closer with each word. “I’m gonna give you all the marks you can handle.”

It feels like a promise and Harry remembers that old phrase his mother used to tell him when he was being particularly bratty about something he wanted.

_Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it._

After a few more minutes of stolen kisses, the two make their way back to their bunks. It won’t be easy for them being a gay couple hiding in the military in this day and age. But no matter what happens next, Harry’s never been happier to get his wish.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you! Please comment and [reblog](http://whiskcentral.tumblr.com/post/163450197552) if you liked it!


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